Hello Sweetie
by shannyfish
Summary: Alex and Max go on a date. #9 - Count Me In series
_"Hello Sweetie" ~ River Song_

* * *

"I _could_ have picked you up."

"You've never actually been to my apartment _yet._ "

"There _has_ to be a first time," he said with a bright smile. He'd been waiting out in front of the restaurant with a bouquet of red roses. He was dressed in a suit and Alex was actually surprised to find him waiting out front. She would have thought that such a thing would be above Maxwell Lord, but here he was. He held out an arm like a gentleman. "But...when you're ready."

She took his arm and looked at him with a cheeky smile. "I like to keep a _bit_ of mystery between us." She'd decided not to go overboard for this date, the fact that she was actually wearing the heels was more than enough, so she'd stuck to the dress that Max had already once before seen her in.

"I _like_ mystery."

"No you don't," Alex told him seriously but couldn't stop smiling.

" _I do_ ," Max insisted as he handed her the bouquet. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

It wasn't that it was unexpected, it was that she realized that she'd missed it. It wasn't like they'd kissed often when they'd been under the mind control, but enough times that Alex knew that. She blinked at Max and for a moment, everything melted away...all of the worries and the second guesses and the facade that she knew she could put up in a blink. None of that was needed, though, she realized.

As they walked into the restaurant they were immediately led in the direction of their table without anything being said. Alex soon saw why, they were the only ones there. She knew that she really didn't need to be too self conscious. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to be seen with Max, it was just that she really didn't want to be tweeted about or whatever people did when they were acting like paparazzi.

"Max-"

"I didn't want to be surrounded by a whole bunch of people, but I thought that we were still sort of at the stage where more of a public venue was appropriate," Max said gently. He pulled out her chair for her and for a moment Alex thought about making a comment, but she decided to let him be a gentleman and do the polite thing.

So, she sat and he pushed in her chair for her. "It's really sweet," Alex commented as she looked around. He was right. He was so right. She really hadn't been excited to sit in a sea of onlookers during their date. It was already going to be hard enough because of what had happened.

"I had thought about ordering in and watching whatever series of 'Doctor Who' is your favorite, but I figured that that might be too big of a step," Max told her as he took his seat across from her.

Alex relaxed and thought about that. "It sounds really nice."

"Maybe next time?"

"Maybe," she told him.

They both took the time to look over their menus and ordered. It was a nice restaurant, of course, because this was Max. Alex still felt a little nervous, but from what she could see...so was he. She wasn't sure if that made it easier or harder. She waited until the staff left them, they'd come back to pour wine.

"Why are we nervous?" Alex asked him.

There was no need to be so formal, she decided. It wasn't like they didn't know each other...at least in some way. This wasn't really a first date. They knew each other's secrets and they knew...they knew what the other was going through (as far as what they'd been through). Alex just didn't want to sit there being nervous and fighting the urge to put up walls. She was here to try to see if there was really some kind of real spark between her and Max, that couldn't be properly assessed with walls and facades.

"I have so many reasons," Max said with a smile and a chuckle, but he seemed to relax some. He was quiet and he looked down for a moment before looking back up at her. "In movies, at least the ones I've seen...there's always this...can we start over again theme, but I always thought that was silly. Why start over? You know each other. You're not going to wipe your memory. It's still going to all be there." He was quiet again. "I get it now...but I know that we can't forget...but I keep thinking that I'd just rather be able to be a different person for you."

She understood that.

"And who would _you_ be?" Alex asked, intrigued. "If you could be a different person?"

"Who would _you_ want me to be?"

That was easy.

"The man that I know you can be...the man I think you want to be," Alex told him. It sounded silly, cliche even, but it was the truth. "You've got so much going for you, Max, but you let your dislike and distrust of aliens cloud your judgement. I mean, I get it… I do. I can see both sides, but I think that if you'd just focus on what's driven you up until Supergirl came on the scene...I think you'd do amazing things... _more_ amazing things…"

Max smiled a little differently, she wasn't sure exactly how, but she hoped that what she said helped. She watched as he tilted his head and seemed to think. She wondered if that was what he wanted to hear. "You know what I would change?" Alex asked. "If I could be different...I would have been a better sister to Kara when we were younger…"

" _You_ were a bad sister?" he asked and seemed quite shock. Alex hadn't missed that she'd seemed to have caught him by surprise.

Alex shrugged. "I was the favorite...the shining star...an only child...and then Kara came," Alex explained. "It was hard. I was fourteen. Suddenly I had this weird sister who didn't know how to fit in and I had to teach her how to be human...and she'd lost everything...and I didn't understand that then… I didn't always act as supportive or as much like a sister as I should have."

"I wouldn't have ever guessed that after seeing the two of you together...how protective you are of her," Max said.

"It got harder...after my dad was killed...but that loss...it pushed us apart and then, I realized exactly how Kara must have felt...except she lost so much more than just her father," Alex told him. It was a little weird to pour her life story out to him. He was one of the few people in the world that knew secrets, though...and so it made it easier. "I lived my life how I thought my dad would be proud of me...doing what I felt was important."

"I still don't understand how you work at the DEO now...with your background," Max admitted. "I mean, I get it, but-"

"I'm not in a lab?"

Max shrugged. "We might not have been doing real science down in that facility...but the way you look at things…"

"J'onn recruited me...I was going through a really rough patch...academically and it was spilling over into a rather...irresponsible personal life," she explained. "He wanted me to be able to take care of myself, but then he knew what was out there…"

"Well, I'm glad he did," Max said. "But I can't quite picture irresponsible Alex Danvers."

"That's maybe for the best," Alex told him and beamed.

He laughed. "I really want pictures now…"

"Luckily, there is _no_ such evidence out there…"

"You know who I think I'd like to be?" Max said after a quiet moment. "The Doctor."

"Which one?"

"Does it matter?"

Alex thought about it for a moment. Her lips pursed as she thought about her next words. "What are you running away from?"

"Who says I'm running _away_?"

"You're running _towards_ something?" she asked. "Not the Daleks, okay?"

"Scary?"

"The Weeping Angels are far more terrifying...I keep an eye on statues...because you never know," Alex told him seriously.

He grinned at that. "No counting shadows?"

"Well, I sort of decided that if the Vashta Nerada is out there, I'm just screwed because I just can't be scared of the dark...let alone shadows in the dark," Alex pointed out.

"You could take them."

She tilted her head slightly and a smile spread across her lips. " _Silence in the Library_."

"River Song's first appearance."

"Hello Sweetie."

"Hello," he replied with a brighter smile. "I'd say I was running towards you...but the horrible thing...tragic, really...about River and the Doctor...is that they're always meeting out of order...and they only ever have moments."

"Sometimes that's all we have," Alex told him. "It's just a matter of which moments you hold tight to, the good or the tragic."

"Those moments we had together, Alex...they are the ones I'm holding tight to...even if it wasn't all real," Max confessed. "And I'm having a really hard time concentrating on anything else…"

She just stared at him for a long moment.

It had suddenly gotten so real.

"I haven't forgotten," was all she could push out.

Their dinner arrived and they went silent. The meal had polite dinner conversation and they'd switched gears about how it was to be back. Alex missing Noonan's and her time with Kara. It was about simple things and it always confused her at how Max would comment that he missed when things were more simple in life.

He had no one in the world.

No family.

No friends (not real ones).

Her.

He only had her.

Dessert came and was devoured. Alex sipped her wine. She'd managed to nurse one glass during their dinner. She looked at Max and it killed her to see him so sad. He was still wearing his wedding ring and so was she, though she'd been putting it on the chain her locket was on when she was at the DEO.

He had to be so alone.

Lost.

She had so many.

So many that loved her.

Max didn't have that.

Her voice was gentle when she finally spoke up, her hand crossing the table to cover his. Their eyes meeting and there was already understanding there. "You know we can't just snap back to that-"

"I know."

"That doesn't mean that somewhere down the line we won't end up in that same place."

"I'm hoping with less end of the world themes."

Alex smiled at that, the brightening of the suddenly serious turn. "I agree."

"Well, as long as we agree on that," Max said. He tapped nervously on the edge of the table for a moment. "I really don't want tonight to end."

"It's just tonight," Alex told him. "A moment. Tomorrow's another day and a new opportunity for new moments…"

"Does this mean I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I do have to work...and so do you."

"Lunch?"

"Not sure I can get away for lunch, but why don't we do breakfast?"

"Don't you normally have breakfast with Kara?"

" _Sometimes_ ," Alex said and then stared at him. "How-"

"Whatever that thing did to us...I have some random imprinted memories about _you_ in here," Max said as he tapped the side of his head. "But I've noticed that it isn't the same for you. I have a theory about that."

"What's your theory?"

"You _fought_ the process more than I did. You thought about your sister and J'onn. You held onto them...but _you_ were who I held onto…" Max shrugged. "I guess I was easily seduced."

"The flashes that I had about us being in a cell...they found my locket-"

"You were the last person I saw, Alex, before it all happened, of course I latched onto my memory of you."

And it made sense.

Max's hand turned and he wrapped his fingers around hers. "Stay for a little while longer?" he asked. Alex just gave him a slight nod in response. It was nice and for the first time the entire evening, they just spent it in silence. There was something so comforting about being together like this.

Time passed and Alex knew that it had to be getting to the point where they needed to leave. The poor restaurant people had to want to clean and go home. Alex squeezed his hand and before she could say anything, he spoke first.

"Can I trust you, Alex Danvers?"

"If you like," Alex told him with a slight shrug. "But where's the fun in that?"

* * *

The End.


End file.
